Method of assembling an electronic textile

ABSTRACT

Ribbons containing e.g. inorganic NMOS devices are assembled in electrical contact with ribbons containing e.g. PMOS devices (preferably organic) to enable flexible electronic textile circuits, e.g. displays, to be inexpensive and practical for a wide for a variety of functions. The use of ribbons provides flexibility, reduces costs, and allows testing during assembly and different processes to be efficiently used for different components. This is apparently the first time that ribbons (especially inorganic-device-containing ribbons) have been interconnected to form a flexible CMOS electronic textile.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser.No. 60/887,116, filed Jan. 29, 2007, the contents of which isincorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to flexible electronic circuits.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Flexible organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs or organic LEDs) have beenused as display elements on a display-wide sheet on a plastic. As thepolymeric light-emitting diode (PLED) type of OLED uses a polymericemissive electroluminescent layer, the light emitting material can beapplied without a vacuum, such emissive materials can be applied byprinting techniques. Such OLEDs have been printed in rows and columns ona plastic screen to create a color display, for television and cellphone screens. Organic thin-film transistors (TFTs) for such displayscan also be printed on the display. Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) havealso been used as display elements on a flexible display-wide substrate.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

As described herein, the use of ribbons, with active devices such asthin-film transistors (TFTs) fabricated completely on individualribbons, and assembly with connections between ribbons enables flexibleelectronic textiles to be inexpensive and practical for a wide for avariety of functions. This also allows testing of individual ribbons andtheir connections (including e.g. alignment) to other ribbons duringassembly.

This is especially useful as different types of ribbons, e.g. ribbonscontaining inorganic active devices can be assembled with ribbonscontaining organic active devices, can be used in a textile. This allowsdifferent processes to be efficiently used for different components. Onetype of device (e.g. inorganic-TFT or SRAM) can be fabricated on onetype of ribbon, and another type of device (e.g. organic-TFT, or LED)fabricated on another

Making an electronic textile with ribbons provides a relatively large,relatively flat ribbon surface for creating electronic devices, such asTFTs and SRAMs, and for creating surface contacts on the surface of theribbons (as opposed to a textile made from threads). Ribbons alsoprovide orientation of rotation for ribbon-to-ribbon electricalcontacting. Thus electronic devices and surface contacts can be createdon a top surface of a warp ribbon and be easily orientated forelectrical connection with electronic devices and surface contacts on abottom surface of an overlying weft ribbon. This also allows fabricationprocessing all on one side of a ribbon, reducing costs.

TFTs may be used such that ribbons contain entire memory cells. Byhaving entire memory cells on one ribbon, the number of interconnectionsat ribbon cross-over (e.g. where a warp ribbon crosses over, and has oneor more electrical contact with, a weft ribbon) can be held to areasonable number (e.g. two or three) of interconnections, while stillretaining the advantages of ribbon fabrication.

In some embodiments, a number of entire memory cells on one ribbon (e.g.5, 6, or 8) are connected together to give multiple (e.g. 5, 6, or 8)bits of digital memory. Thus 5 or 6 bits of memory could be stored forcontrolling the intensity of a sub-pixel on an adjacent (e.g.over-lying) ribbon in a display. A D-to-A (D/A) converter can be used todrive a transistor controlling current through an LED in an adjacentribbon. One ribbon may be used to control a row of sub-pixels in adisplay and thus have, e.g. 16 bits per pixel and, e.g. 1024 pixels in arow, and thus over 16,000 memory cells on one ribbon.

During assembly of ribbon-containing electronic textiles, dynamicalignment of surface contacts and defect testing can be done byautomated (and/or human) observation of light emission and/or electronicmeasurements (thus providing accurate alignment and/or allowingduring-assembly replacement of ribbons containing defects). A weftribbon being added and the warp ribbons can be energized through theirlongitudinal conductors and/or surface contacts to allow testing beforethe textile is completely assembled, thus significantly increasingproduction efficiency and yield.

Automated aligning of contacts is especially useful in centering ofsurface contacts, and preferably both the surface contacts of warpribbons and surface contacts of the weft ribbons are centered (thusaligned in both x and y dimensions). Warp and weft ribbons may bepressed together to provide alignment-maintaining indentations in atleast one of the warp and weft ribbons surface contacts after assemblyor on a weft ribbon by weft ribbon basis during assembly.

With ribbons having surface contacts, dynamically aligning and testingcan conveniently be done. With ribbons having light emitting devicesand/or LCDs optical observation can be used for testing as well. Theease of removing and replacing a weft ribbon if the weft ribbon does notpass the test, allows convenient, during assembly repair, ofribbon-containing electronic textiles.

This may be a method of assembling an electronic textile, comprising:providing warp ribbons having surface contacts; energizing or groundingthe warp ribbons; energizing or grounding a weft ribbon having surfacecontacts, and dynamically aligning surface contacts of the weft ribbonin electrical contact with surface contacts of the warp ribbons, whereinthe aligning of the weft ribbon uses at least one of observation oflight emission and electronic measurements; defect testing the weftribbon using at least one of observation of light emission andelectronic measurements; and removing the weft ribbon if the weft ribbondoes not pass the test. The surface contacts allow testing before thetextile is completely assembled, thus significantly increasingproduction efficiency and yield. Initial defect-free production isotherwise very difficult in large arrays of cells or pixels. Automatedaligning of contacts is especially useful in centering of surfacecontacts, and preferably both the surface contacts of warp ribbons andsurface contacts of the weft ribbons are centered (thus aligned in bothx and y dimensions).

This can also be a method of assembling an electronic textile,comprising: assembling warp ribbons in parallel; placing a first weftribbon in electrical contact with the warp ribbons; and testing thefirst weft ribbon for at least one of electrical-contact alignment withthe warp ribbons, and defects, using at least one of observation oflight emission and electronic measurements. Preferably, weft ribbons aretested before the next weft ribbon is added. Preferably, if a weftribbon is found defective, the weft ribbon is removed and replaced priorto adding the next weft ribbon. The weft ribbon may be tested afteradditional weft ribbons are added, and removed and replaced if the weftribbon is found defective. The weft ribbon may be energized or groundedprior to being placed in contact with the warp ribbons. The energizationof warp and/or weft ribbons may be with more than one voltage, andvoltages may be pulsed, rather than steady, and may be signals, e.g.addressing signals. In some embodiments, the energizing and groundingmay be at an end of one or more of the ribbons, e.g. by a socket.

In some embodiments, weft ribbons are fed from a spool, and may be cutfrom the spool before or after testing. The testing for alignment and/ordefects, may be by automated observation of light emission and/orautomated electronic measurements. The testing may also be by humanobservation of light emission and/or of electronic measurements.

Preferably, the warp ribbons are tested prior to being assembled orplaced in the loom. This can also be a method of assembling a wovenelectronic textile in a loom, comprising: loading warp ribbons in theloom; energizing or grounding the warp ribbons; inserting a weft ribbonin the loom; energizing or grounding weft ribbon in the loom; and defecttesting or alignment testing the weft ribbon using at least one ofobservation of light emission and electronic measurements.

If a weft ribbon is defect-free, warp and weft ribbons of a woventextile can be pressed together to provide alignment-maintainingindentations in at least one of the warp and weft ribbons. Again,automated aligning of contacts is especially useful in centering ofsurface contacts, and preferably both the surface contacts of warpribbons and surface contacts of the weft ribbons are centered (thusaligned in both x and y dimensions). In some embodiments, if after allwarp and weft ribbons are assembled (with surface contacts aligned) andare defect-free, all warp and weft ribbons are pressed together toprovide alignment-maintaining indentations in at least one of the warpand weft ribbons. In some embodiments, if after all warp and weftribbons are assembled and are defect-free, warp and weft ribbons of thetextile are attached to a backing. Weft ribbons may also be pretestedprior to being placed in contact with the warp ribbons.

As described herein, the use of ribbons containing inorganic thin-filmtransistors (TFTs) now enables flexible electronic textile displays tobe inexpensive and practical for a wide variety of functions. Preferablyone type of device (e.g. inorganic-TFT or inorganic-TFT-containing SRAM)is fabricated on one type of ribbon, and another type of device (e.g.organic-TFT, or LED) is fabricated on another type of ribbon. A numberof ribbons can then be assembled in a manner where the different typesof ribbons are electrically interconnected through surface contacts.Thus devices on one ribbon can be interconnected to devices on otherribbons to form a textile that is a functional unit.

This is especially useful as different types of ribbons, e.g. ribbonscontaining organic display-devices (e.g. LEDs) assembled with ribbonscontaining inorganic TFTs, can be used in combination, allowingdifferent processes to be efficiently used for different components. Theuse of ribbons provides flexibility and reduces costs. Different colorLEDs can also be fabricated on different ribbons. This is apparently thefirst time that inorganic TFT-containing ribbons have been used in anelectronic textile display.

This can be a method of assembling an electronic display, comprising:providing ribbons containing display-devices; providing ribbonscontaining inorganic TFTs; and placing the display-device ribbons inelectrical contact with the inorganic TFT ribbons to provide a textiledisplay. Preferably, the inorganic TFTs are lithography fabricated.

Preferably, the inorganic TFTs are amorphous semiconductor transistors(however some or all of the inorganic TFTs may be polycrystalline). TheTFTs may be parts of memory cells. The textile display that containsribbons with organic display-devices, may contain other organicsemiconductor devices (e.g. transistors). The organic containing ribbonsare assembled into said electronic textile in direct or indirectelectrical contact with the inorganic TFT ribbons. The organicdisplay-device-containing ribbons can have devices such as LEDs, orLCDs, and may have organic transistors and/or other diodes. Entireinorganic TFTs (not just part of a TFT) are fabricated on a ribbon (nota thread, and not a large sheet of plastic) and are preferablylithography fabricated. The organic devices are also fabricated on aribbon and can also be lithography fabricated. The display is formed byassembling a number of ribbons in a manner where the ribbons areelectrically interconnected.

This can also be a method of assembling an electronic textile displaycomprising: providing ribbons containing organic LEDs or LCD devices;providing ribbons containing lithography fabricated inorganic TFTs; andplacing the LEDs or LCD device containing ribbons in electrical contactwith the inorganic TFT ribbons to provide a textile display. Preferably,the ribbons containing inorganic TFTs contain memory circuitry.

This may also be a method of assembling a woven electronic textile;comprising: providing ribbons containing organic display-devices;providing ribbons containing inorganic TFTs; and weaving the organicdisplay-device ribbons in direct or indirect electrical contact with theinorganic TFT ribbon to provide a woven electronic textile. In otherembodiments, some or all of the ribbons are not woven, but are attachedto a textile backing.

This can also be an electronic display element, comprising: a ribboncontaining an organic display-device; and a ribbon with an inorganicTFT, wherein and the organic display-device ribbon is in electricalcontact with the inorganic TFT ribbon to provide a textile displayelement. The display element (e.g. sub-pixel) may have a lithographyfabricated inorganic TFT, and may be part of a textile display.

The textile can contain organic display-device ribbons in direct orindirect electrical contact with TFT ribbons through surface contacts.The organic-display-device containing ribbons can contain devices suchas organic LEDs or LCDs and also have organic transistors. In oneembodiment, organic-display-device-containing ribbons also containorganic transistors to control current to organic LEDs or controlvoltages to LCDs, with the organic transistors receiving signals frommemory cells on ribbons with the inorganic memory cells (this reducescurrent through surface contacts, and in some cases the signals may becapacitively or inductively coupled). The memory cells may be static ordynamic.

The use of circuits with a combination of ribbons containing inorganicTFTs and ribbons containing display-devices now enables flexibleelectronic display textiles to be inexpensive and practical for a widefor a variety of functions. Using ribbons provides a larger, flattersurface (than, e.g. threads) for creating electronic devices, such asTFTs or SRAMs, and for creating surface contacts on the surface of theribbons, but avoids the yield problems that putting an entire display onone substrate entails, especially on large displays.

As described herein, the use of ribbons containing organic TFTs nowenables flexible electronic textile displays to be inexpensive andpractical for a wide for a variety of functions. This is especiallyuseful as different types of ribbons, e.g. ribbons containing organicdisplay-devices (e.g. LEDs) assembled with ribbons containing organicTFTs, can be used in combination, allowing different processes to beefficiently used for different ribbons. Different color LEDs can also befabricated on different ribbons. This is apparently the first time thatorganic TFT-containing ribbons have been used in an electronic textiledisplay.

This can also be a method of assembling an electronic display,comprising: providing ribbons containing display-devices; providingribbons containing organic TFTs; and placing the display-device ribbonsin electrical contact with the organic TFT ribbons to provide a textiledisplay. Preferably, the organic TFTs are lithography fabricated. Insome embodiments, the organic TFTs are part of memory cells. The displaydevices are also fabricated on a ribbon and can also be lithographyfabricated.

The textile can contain organic display-device ribbons in direct orindirect electrical contact with TFT ribbons through surface contacts.The organic-display-device containing ribbons can contain devices suchas organic LEDs or LCDs and also have organic transistors. In oneembodiment, organic-display-device-containing ribbons also containorganic transistors to control current to organic LEDs or controlvoltages to LCDs, with the organic transistors receiving signals frommemory cells on a different ribbon (this reduces current through surfacecontacts, and in some cases the signals may be capacitively coupled).The ribbon with the memory cells may have organic or inorganic memorycells. The memory cells may be static or dynamic.

They may also contain organic or inorganic passive devices, and in someembodiments might even contain inorganic TFT devices. Organicdisplay-device containing ribbons with transistors can be woven withribbons having organic TFTs, with the organic TFTs being part of memorycells in display applications. In some applications the memory cells(and/or other circuitry) may have both PMOS and NMOS transistors, withthe NMOS transistors being inorganic and the PMOS transistors beingorganic.

In some preferred embodiments, the organic display-device containingribbons contain LEDs, and the organic TFT containing ribbons containmemory cells. The ribbons may be woven in the textile or be used inconjunction with (e.g. attached to) a woven backing. The textile mayprovide red, green and blue light (preferably, separate ribbons are usedfor the red, green and blue light). In some embodiments, intensity oflight generated in the textile is digitally controlled. The textile mayprovide visible light, and/or UV light and/or IR light.

The organic TFTs may be part of a RAM cell. The use of static RAM pixeldrive circuits, such as SRAMs allows asynchronous addressing and theaddressing of individual pixels only when that pixel changes, ratherthan addressing every pixel 60 to 80 times a second as with dynamic RAMpixel drive circuits, dramatically reducing power and bandwidthrequirements (see “Display Bandwidth Reduction via Latched Pixels andProcessing at the Pixel” by B. Gnade, et al; Cockpit Displays IX:Displays For Defense Applications, Darrel G. Hopper, Editor, ProceedingsOf SPIE Vol. 4712 (2002) Copyright 2002 SPIE 0277-786X/02, which ishereby incorporated by reference herein.)

The textile may provide at least part of a radio, music player, ortransceiver that includes a display. If the textile contains inorganictransistors they are preferably amorphous, and principally comprisesilicon, germanium, zinc oxide, zinc-tin oxide, or a combinationthereof. III-VI diodes and transistors may also be used. The textile canalso contain passive devices such as capacitors and resistors on eithertype of ribbon. The textile can also contain memory cells for otherpurposes such as computing, display (including asynchronous) or a musicplayer.

In some embodiments, the textile is used in an article of clothing, andmay be waterproof. The textile may be used in conjunction with acomputer (circuitry and/or monitor), or in a television, e.g. as a largeTV display.

This may also be a method of assembling a woven electronic textile;comprising: providing ribbons containing organic display-devices;providing ribbons containing organic TFTs; and weaving the organicdisplay-device ribbons in direct or indirect electrical contact with theorganic TFT ribbon to provide a woven electronic textile. In otherembodiments, some or all of the ribbons are not woven, but are attachedto a textile backing.

This can also be an electronic display element, comprising: a ribboncontaining an organic display-device; and a ribbon with an organic TFTcontaining RAM, wherein and the organic display-device ribbon is inelectrical contact with the organic TFT ribbon to provide a textiledisplay element. Preferably the organic TFT is lithography fabricated.In many embodiments, the electronic display element is part of a textiledisplay.

The use of circuits with a combination of ribbons containing organicTFTs and ribbons containing organic display-devices now enables flexibleelectronic display textiles to be inexpensive and practical for a widefor a variety of functions. Using ribbons provides a larger, flattersurface (than, e.g. threads) for creating electronic devices, such asSRAMs, and for creating surface contacts on the surface of the ribbons.

Herein, ribbons containing devices can be assembled in electricalcontact with ribbons containing other devices (preferably organic) toenable flexible electronic textile circuits to be inexpensive andpractical for a wide for a variety of functions. The use of ribbonsprovides flexibility, reduces costs, and allows different processes tobe efficiently used for different components. While flexible electroniccircuits on single display-wide sheet of plastic have been used forfunctions including for television and cell phones, this is apparentlythe first time that ribbons (especially organic-device-containingribbons) have been interconnected to form a flexible electronic textile.

The textile may be waterproof and in some embodiments may be used in anarticle of clothing. In some embodiments, the memory cells are woveninto the textile, and in other embodiments the memory cells attached toa backing, and in still other embodiments, the memory cells arepartially woven into the textile and partially attached (e.g. sewn) to abacking. A textile of random access memory cells may be used to controlLEDs. The textile may be used in conjunction with a computer (circuitryand/or monitor), or in a television, e.g. as a large TV display. Thetransistors are preferably entirely fabricated on a single ribbon, andare preferably lithography fabricated.

In some embodiments, the electronic textile has inert ribbons and/orthreads with no conductors or surface contacts, e.g., as spacers, or toaid in keeping ribbons aligned. In some embodiments, the electronictextile also has ribbons and/or threads with conductors and surfacecontacts, but without active devices, for interconnecting memory-cellribbons. In some embodiments, the electronic textile contains ribbonswith passive devices such as capacitors or resistors. In someembodiments, the electronic textile contains other functional devicessuch as a batteries, light sensors, and/or energy collectors (e.g. solarcells or rf collectors).

The ribbons may be woven in the textile or be used in conjunction with(e.g. attached to) a woven backing. The textile may provide red, greenand blue light. In some embodiments, intensity of light generated in thetextile is digitally controlled. The textile may provide visible light,and/or UV light and/or IR light. The use of static RAM pixel drivecircuits, such as SRAMs or FRAMs allows asynchronous addressing and theaddressing of individual pixels only when that pixel changes, ratherthan addressing every pixel 60 to 80 times a second as with dynamic RAMpixel drive circuits, dramatically reducing power and bandwidthrequirements (see “Display Bandwidth Reduction via Latched Pixels andProcessing at the Pixel” by B. Gnade, et al; Cockpit Displays IX:Displays For Defense Applications, Darrel G. Hopper, Editor, ProceedingsOf SPIE Vol. 4712 (2002) Copyright 2002 SPIE 0277-786X/02, which ishereby incorporated by reference herein.)

The use of textiles with ribbons now enables flexible electronictextiles to be practical and allows the combination of ribbonsfabricated using different types of processing. Using ribbons provides alarger, flatter surface (than, e.g. threads) for creating electronicdevices, such as transistors and for creating surface contacts on thesurface of the ribbons.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and further advantages of the invention may be betterunderstood by referring to the following description in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings (which use an analog RAM for simplicity), inwhich:

FIG. 1 shows a portion of an electronic textile (part of a display inthis example) with side view of a segment of an LED (e.g. anOLED)-containing ribbon with a sub-pixel (e.g. red) LED, woven with aRAM-containing ribbon (shown in cross-section), and an inert thread(shown in cross-section), with the bottom of the LED-containing ribbonbeing in electrical contact with the top of the RAM-containing ribbon;

FIG. 2 shows a bottom view of a segment of the LED-containing ribbon;

FIG. 3 shows a top view of a segment of the RAM-containing ribbon;

FIG. 4 shows a cross-section view of a segment of the LED-containingribbon; and

FIG. 5 shows a circuit arrangement for such a sub-pixel.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Devices can be manufactured on a ribbon, preferably by thin-filmfabrication techniques. Flat surfaces on ribbons can allow mostsemiconductor manufacturing techniques to be used. Multilayerdepositions can be used and devices on the ribbon can be sealed and canbe encapsulated. Devices can be patterned by lithographic techniques.Vacuum deposition of materials through metal shadow masks, and screenprinting can also be used. Reel to reel techniques can be used inmanufacturing (including in-vacuum manufacturing). Ribbons may be verylong, e.g. hundreds or thousands of feet), and then cut to the desiredlength. Ribbons can be quite wide (e.g. a foot or more) or may berelatively narrow, e.g. 1/32th of an inch, or less, for moderately large(e.g. 8 foot wide) displays. Connectors can be placed on some or allends of the ribbons. Multiple ribbons can also be connected to oneconnector. Ribbons can contain addressing circuitry, e.g. on one or moresides of a display or memory, to minimize the number of connections tothe textile. Connectors can be used for incoming signals and/or incomingpower. Outgoing connections can be used to connect to external devices,such as earphones or headsets, or to an item to be charged, e.g. cellphones, or MP3 Players.

Using known semiconductor fabrication techniques, all the materials forflexible thin-film transistors (including insulators and encapsulates)can be deposited in flexible form on ribbon substrates, and can be wiredinto circuits and to contacts on the ribbon surface. Using knownsemiconductor fabrication techniques, all the materials for batterycells, light sensors, antennas, and solar cells can also be deposited inthin-film flexible form on ribbon substrates, and can be wired intocircuits and to contacts on the ribbon surface. Using semiconductorfabrication techniques, battery cells, light sensors, antennas, andsolar cells can all be fabricated in very narrow areas (e.g. 1 mm by 3mm, or 1 mm by 100 mm) and thus can be fabricated on relatively narrowribbons. In many embodiments, the ribbons herein are preferably between0.5 mm and 1 cm, but in some applications, e.g. very large displays,sub-pixels (and their ribbons) may be 10 cm or more, and may use, e.g.screen printing, rather than lithography. Thin-film batteries aredescribed for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,056,620, “Thin film batteryand method of manufacture” to Krasnov et al, and 6,962,613“Low-temperature fabrication of thin-film energy-storage devices” toJenson (which notes a flexible substrate). As used herein, the term“containing” as regards to devices and TFTs and such means devicesfabricated on the surface of or within a ribbon and internallyelectrically connected within the ribbon, e.g. to ribbon longitudinalconductors, to other devices contained within the ribbon and/or tosurface contacts. Devices fabricated on the surface may be deposited bysemiconductor processes, lithographically patterned, deposited throughmasks, printed (including screen printed), etc.

Interconnecting ribbons can also be used to make connections betweenvarious areas of the textile that have different functions. For example,solar cells might be in one area, and battery cells in another area andbe connected by interconnecting ribbons. A battery charge controlcircuit could be located between the two. A radio transceiver might beconnected by interconnecting ribbons to an antenna and have a connectorfor a headset. Line-of-sight communication systems might use lightsensors and LEDs (preferably narrow band) for receiving and sendingsignals. A cyclist's vest could flash a strobe signal when activated bya car's headlights. Such applications could be largely devices onribbons, integrated in a textile with interconnecting ribbons.

The ribbons may be woven together much the same as a basket weave,however, the weave may vary with a ribbon going over two or more ribbonsbefore going under a ribbon again. Fastening ribbons on a fabric backing(by, e.g. sewing) can provide even more flexibility, as, e.g., one typeof ribbon could be on top most or even all of the time.

The ribbon textile can contain memory circuitry and longitudinalconductors for addressing the memory circuitry (e.g. bitlines in thewarp ribbons and word-lines in the weft ribbons).

During assembly of ribbon-containing electronic textiles, dynamicalignment of surface contacts and defect testing can be done byautomated (and/or human) observation of light emission and/or electronicmeasurements (thus providing accurate alignment and allowing duringassembly replacement of ribbons containing defects). Warp ribbons and a

In some embodiments, surface contacts are along outside edges (ratherthan near the center) of the ribbons, e.g., such that a surface contacton a bottom surface edge of a top ribbon could make an electricalconnection with a surface contact on a top surface edge of a bottomribbon. Having surface contacts on the edge of ribbons can more easilybe away from devices on the ribbon, such that deformations at thecontacts is further from the devices, and can make it easier to havepressure keeping the contacts together. Such surface contacts can berelatively long in the longitudinal direction of the ribbon andrelatively thin in a transverse direction.

This method can use assembling warp ribbons in parallel, energizing orgrounding the warp ribbons, placing a weft ribbon substantiallyperpendicular to and in contact with the warp ribbons, and energizing orgrounding the weft ribbon; and testing the weft ribbon forelectrical-contact alignment with the warp ribbons and/or for defectsusing at least one of observation of light emission and electronicmeasurements. Testing of the ribbons, of course, can also be done priorto being assembled or placed in the loom. Ribbons can have connectors onone end and as such can be tested between their end connectors and theirsurface contacts.

Preferably, weft ribbons are tested before the next weft ribbon isadded. Preferably, if a weft ribbon is found defective, the weft ribbonis removed and replaced prior to adding the next weft ribbon. The weftribbon may also be tested after additional weft ribbons are added, oreven after normal assembly has be completed, and removed and replaced ifthe weft ribbon is found defective. This is more expensive, but can bedone in some cases, if necessary. The weft ribbon may be energized orgrounded prior to being placed in contact with the warp ribbons.

With ribbons having surface contacts, dynamically aligning and testingcan conveniently be done. With ribbon having light emitting devicesand/or LCDs optical observation can be used for testing as well. Theease of removing and replacing a weft ribbon if the weft ribbon does notpass the test, allows convenient, during assembly repair, ofribbon-containing electronic textiles.

In some embodiments, weft ribbons are fed from a spool, and may be cutfrom the spool before or after testing. The testing for alignment and/ordefects, may be by automated observation of light emission and/orautomated electronic measurements. The testing may also be by humanobservation of light emission and/or of electronic measurements.Alignment testing can use longitudinal movement back and forth todetermine surface contact ends and then center the ribbon between thesurface contact ends in one dimension. Alignment testing can usemovement side to side (and/or at angles) to similarly center the ribbonlaterally.

If a weft ribbon is defect-free, warp and weft ribbons of woven textilecan be pressed together to provide alignment-maintaining indentations inat least one of the warp and weft ribbons. Again, automated aligning ofcontacts is especially useful in centering of surface contacts, andpreferably both the surface contacts of warp ribbons and surfacecontacts of the weft ribbons are centered (thus aligned in both x and ydimensions). In some embodiments, if after all warp and weft ribbonsassembled (with surface contacts aligned) and are defect-free, all warpand weft ribbons are pressed together to provide alignment-maintainingindentations in the warp and/or weft ribbons. In some embodiments, ifafter all warp and weft ribbons assembled and are defect-free, warp andweft ribbons of the textile are attached to a backing.

The assembling of a woven electronic textile can be done with a loom, asa loom can easily apply controlled pressure between surface contactsduring testing, and can be “backed up” for easy removal of a weftribbon. However, even if a loom is not used or the textile is not woven,our lab experiments have shown this type of testing and alignment to beeffective. Further, the use with ribbons of the terms “warp” as usedherein means ribbons substantially in parallel in a first direction and“weft” as used herein means ribbons substantially perpendicular to thatfirst direction, whether or not the ribbons are in a loom.

The circuits described herein use ribbons in electrical contact withother ribbons. The display is formed by assembling a number of ribbonsin a manner where the ribbons are electrically interconnected, and thusdevices on one ribbon are interconnected to devices on other ribbons toform a textile that is a functional unit. Further, entire inorganicSRAMS may also be fabricated on a ribbon.

The use of electronic displays assembled using ribbons containinginorganic devices (e.g. TFTs) electrically interconnected with ribbonscontaining organic devices (e.g. LEDs) now enables flexible electronictextile displays to be inexpensive and practical for a wide variety offunctions. Further, entire inorganic SRAMS may also be fabricated on aribbon. Our combination of ribbons to form an electronic textile displayuses inorganic TFT-containing ribbons (TFTRs). The TFTRs in combinationwith organic display-device containing ribbons (ODRs) can be woven.

One embodiment has an electronic textile as part of a display withorganic-LED (OLED)-containing ribbons with sub-pixel (e.g. red, green,or blue) LEDs, woven with inorganic-RAM-containing ribbons, and inertthread, with the bottom of the organic-LED-containing ribbon being inelectrical contact with the top of the RAM-containing ribbon. TheRAM-containing ribbons can be run parallel to or perpendicular (or both)the organic-LED-containing ribbons. Analog RAMs are used in this examplefor simplicity, other types of drive circuits, e.g. SRAMs could also beused. When run parallel to the organic-LED-containing ribbons,electrical contacts can be made indirectly by interconnect ribbons orinterconnect threads.

Unlike the electronic circuits on a single display-wide flexible sheetsof plastic, e.g. for television and cell phone displays, the circuitsdescribed herein use ribbons in electrical contact with other ribbons.Our combination of ribbons to form an electronic textile display can useorganic TFT-containing ribbons (TFTRs) woven with organic display-devicecontaining ribbons (ODRs).

Entire organic TFTs (not just parts of a TFT) are preferably fabricatedon a ribbon (not a thread, and not a large sheet of plastic) and arepreferably lithography fabricated. Further, entire inorganic SRAMS mayalso be fabricated on a ribbon. Organic devices (e.g. entire LEDs) arealso fabricated on a ribbon and can also be lithography fabricated.

This can also be a method of assembling an electronic textile, usingODRs; providing ribbons containing at least one of organic semiconductortransistors and organic semiconductor diodes; and placing the ODRs indirect or indirect electrical contact with the organic semiconductorcontaining ribbons to provide an electronic textile.

To our knowledge there are no previous examples of textile displaysbased on organic light emitting materials. One of the keys tosuccessfully making a textile display based on organic light emittingmaterials is the ability to make ribbons that are robust and can beincorporated into the textile display with high yield and highreliability.

To our knowledge, all other solutions for flexible displays based onOLEDs are based on implementations using a single substrate for thedisplay. Here, the OLED/PLED picture elements are formed on a ribbon andthe display is assembled from the ribbons. Here the process used tofabricate an OLED/PLED stack can be optimized specifically for thatstructure. For instance, in our embodiment, not all of the colors needto be on one OLED ribbon. We can mix and match materials and processesto give the best performance for that specific color, because each ofthe colors can be made on a separate substrate (e.g. all of theblue-emitter ribbons being made with a different process, than thered-emitting ribbons). The different substrates are brought togetheronce the ribbons are in the display format (e.g. woven). This also makesit much easier to make a color display using OLEDs, because one caneliminate the need to pattern the different color materials.

Another significant difference is that each ribbon of the pixel elementscan be pretested, and/or can be tested (and replaced if necessary)during assembly. In a traditional display if there are more than a fewdefects, either in the active matrix control logic, or in the pictureelements, the entire display is scrapped. In our embodiment, only asingle strip (e.g. one weft ribbon the width of the display) would haveto be scrapped, of either the picture element or control logic element.The other significant advantage is that this technique should allow usto make very large displays, because the essentially defect free areaneed only be the width of a single ribbon times the length of theribbon, rather than the width of the entire display times the length ofthe entire display.

Similarly, different organic devices can be made on different ribbons.For example, logic circuit ribbons and RAM ribbons can be made bydifferent processes and then combined into an electronic textile.Further, organic PMOS devices and inorganic NMOS devices can be made bydifferent processes and then combined into an electronic textile.

The textile can contain organic display-devices ribbons in direct orindirect electrical contact with TFTs ribbons through surface contacts.The organic-display-device containing ribbons can contain devices suchas organic LEDs or LCDs and also have organic transistors. In oneembodiment, organic-display-device-containing ribbons also containorganic transistors to control current to organic LEDs or controlvoltage to LCDs, with the organic transistors receiving signals frommemory cells on different ribbons (this reduces current through surfacecontacts, and in some cases the signals may be capacitively orinductively coupled). The ribbon with the memory cells may have organicor inorganic memory cells. The memory cells may be static or dynamic. Asused herein the terms “electrical contact” and “ribbon-to-ribbonelectrical contacting” and “electrically interconnected” and“electrically connected” and “electrical connection” include beingplaced in position to be capacitively or inductive coupled. Further,measurements for defect testing and alignment may include capacitive orinductive coupling measurements.

In some embodiments, the textile contains encryption circuitry and/orde-encryption circuitry. In some embodiments, the textile is part of atwo-way radio (with encrypted conversations or text messages). Amicrophone and/or a speaker may be part of the textile, or separate(e.g. a headphone). In some embodiments, the textile is used in anarticle of clothing, such as a vest, a shirt, or hat, but the textilecould be in other items, such as an umbrella.

The ribbons with one type of device can be substantially parallel to,substantially perpendicular to or even be at some other angle to othersimilar ribbons. Preferably ribbon-to-ribbon surface contacts are on thetop of ribbons running parallel in a first direction and on the bottomof ribbons running perpendicular to the first direction. Preferablydevices are also on the top surface of ribbons running parallel in thefirst direction and on the bottom of ribbons running perpendicular tothe first direction.

Unlike the electronic display circuits on display-wide flexible sheetsof plastic as used, e.g. for television and cell phone displays,circuits described herein, use ribbons in electrical contact with otherribbons. Memory cells may be as simple as one transistor—one capacitorcells. Flexible past displays have apparently not used static memorycells. Our memory cells are preferably static memory cells, rather thandynamic. A combination of ribbons to form an electronic textile can useinorganic memory-cell containing ribbons and/or organic memory-cellcontaining ribbons. The cells may be analog or digital. The ribbonspreferably contain digital, static cells, such as SRAMs. The ribbons maycontain analog or digital FRAM cells.

Preferably, inorganic transistors are non-single crystal, andprincipally comprise silicon, germanium, zinc oxide, zinc-tin oxide, ora combination thereof. Preferably, the inorganic transistors and/ordiodes are amorphous (but they may be polycrystalline). III-VI diodesand transistors may also be used.

The memory circuitry may include one or more fusible link which may beused to introduce serial numbers into a textile, or for programming orfor repairing textile circuitry. Fusible link memory circuitry isdescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,412,593 “Fuse and antifuse reprogrammablelink for integrated circuits” to Magel and Stoltz, which is herebyincorporated by reference herein. A fuse and antifuse link structure,which when used with a memory integrated circuit device such as a gatearray or programmable read-only memory (PROM), allows the memory circuitto be reprogrammed. The fuse and antifuse link is comprised of a fuseand an antifuse, connected in series, parallel, or a combinationthereof. Either element of the link can be programmed initially, and theother can be programmed in a second step, to reverse the firstprogramming. Several links can be used in one circuit to providemultiple reprogramming capability.

The textile can also contain passive devices such as capacitors andresistors. The capacitors may have a hafnium silicate dielectric, whichis preferred as its high dielectric constant allows size reduction.

Entire transistors (not just parts of a transistor) are fabricated on aribbon (not a thread, and not a memory-wide or display-wide of plastic)and are preferably lithography fabricated. Organic devices (e.g. entireLEDs) can also be fabricated on a ribbon and can also be lithographyfabricated. The memory may be formed by assembling a number of ribbonsin a manner where the ribbons are electrically interconnected, and suchthat devices on one ribbon are interconnected to devices on otherribbons to form a memory that is a functional unit. While an entire SRAMmay also be fabricated on a ribbon, organic transistors, e.g. PMOS maybe on one ribbon and inorganic transistors, e.g. NMOS may be on another(e.g. perpendicular) ribbon. Organic LEDs and inorganic transistors maybe similarly on perpendicular ribbons.

Inorganic devices can be deposited on an organic substrate, or can usemetal foil ribbons or wires if for example, components are needed thatrequire high temperature processing. High temperature processing can bedone on metal foil followed by lower temperature processing that addsother parts, such as insulating plastic. Some people have experimentedwith organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) on thread, but not on ribbon.Others have suggested active regions on ribbons, but not an entiretransistor, let alone an entire memory cell, see Ebbesen, below). Ouruse of ribbons maintains orientation during fabrication and enables theuse of integrated circuit production techniques in the manufacture ofcircuits (rather than just devices) and allows, e.g. circuits on the topof a ribbon and conductors (voltage bus, ground, addressing line, etc.)on the back side. The IDRs may also contain organic active devices, e.g.transistors. Thin-film transistors (TFTs), and processes for making bothorganic and inorganic are well known. Patents for TFTs for use indisplays include U.S. Pat. No. 6,952,021 “Thin-film transistor andmethod for making the same” by Tanaka, et al. with an inorganictransistor, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,784,452 “Organic thin film transistor”by Toguchi, et al.

The textile may contain ribbons containing active inorganicsemiconductor and ribbons containing active organic semiconductor, (e.g.a polymer or a molecular device) devices. The memory-cell ribbons mayhave surface contacts in direct or indirect electrical contact with thesurface contacts of other ribbons of other types. The active organicdevice containing ribbons can be LEDs, LCDs, transistors or otherdevices. There are a variety of types of LCDs, including ferroelectricand polymer. As used herein the term “organic display devices” is usedto include all types of LCDs. The active organic devices may includeinorganic dielectrics and passive elements, either organic, inorganic,or both. Unlike LCD displays, OLEDs do not require a backlight and thusgenerally use less energy, and can be less costly to fabricate than thetraditional LCD displays.

The ribbon-to-ribbon electrical connections may be direct or indirect,(e.g. ribbons may be connected through other ribbons, or threads, orwires) and such connections are preferably made through surfacecontacts. Generally, the devices on the ribbons are directly orindirectly electrically connected to the ribbon's surface contacts (theymay be directly connected by one or more conductor, or there may beintervening devices). Further, devices on the ribbons may be directly orindirectly electrically connected to a ribbon's longitudinal conductor,e.g. voltage bus, ground bus, and/or cell or sub-pixel addressing line(wordline or bitline).

The use of ribbons provides flexibility, reduces costs, and allowsdifferent processes to be efficiently used for different components(e.g. in both LED and LCD applications). This is apparently the firsttime that inorganic device containing ribbons have been used in anelectronic textile. Ebbesen U.S. Pat. No. 6,856,715 weaves variouselements, including ribbons to construct devices such as transistorsfrom active regions on multiple substrates “to provide alithography-free process” rather than fabricating transistors entirelyon a single ribbon. Our devices (e.g. transistors or RAMs) arefabricated entirely on a single ribbon and are preferably lithographyfabricated.

In most embodiments, the transistors are TFTs, e.g. in SRAMs. FRAMs(ferroelectric RAMs) may have ferroelectric-TFTs and/or ferroelectriccapacitors. The FRAMs may be analog or digital. The ribbons may be wovenin the textile and/or be used in conjunction with (generally attachedto) a woven backing. The textile may provide red, green and blue light,and again, different color LEDs can also be fabricated on differentribbons. In some embodiments, intensity of light generated in thetextile is digitally controlled. The textile may provide UV light and/orIR light. Preferably, the textile contains inorganic transistors thatare amorphous, and principally comprise silicon, germanium, zinc oxide,zinc-tin oxide, or a combination thereof.

The use of static RAM pixel drive circuits, such as SRAMs or FRAMsallows asynchronous addressing and the addressing of individual pixelsonly when that pixel changes, rather than addressing every pixel 60 to80 times a second as with dynamic RAM pixel drive circuits, dramaticallyreduces power and bandwidth requirements (see “Display BandwidthReduction via Latched Pixels and Processing at the Pixel” by B, Gnade,et al, noted above). This can provide bandwidth reductions similar tothose provided by the use of JPEG.

The use of circuits with a combination of ribbons containing inorganicactive devices (and especially a combination of different types ofribbons) now enables flexible electronic textiles to be inexpensive andpractical for a wide for a variety of functions. Using ribbons providesa larger, flatter surface (than, e.g. threads) for creating electronicdevices, such as SRAMs, and for surface contacts (such that slidingcontacts can be used for greater textile flexibility).

In one of our test embodiments, a display was assembled with ribbonscontaining organic active devices (OLEDs). Such ribbons can be wovenwith ribbons containing inorganic drive transistors.

To our knowledge there are no previous examples of ribbon displays basedon organic light emitting materials. One of the keys to successfullymaking a textile display based on organic light emitting materials isthe ability to make ribbons that are robust and can be incorporated intothe woven display with high yield and high reliability.

The process for making the OLED/PLED element can start with atransparent, plastic substrate (as used herein, the term “OLED/PLED”generally means “an OLED, preferably, a PLED”). In this particularexample the substrate is designated as PEN (Poly Ethylene Naphthalate)or PET (poly(ethylene terephthalate). On one side of the plastic therewas a transparent conductor, which made up the anode. The anode wasindium tin oxide (ITO), but could be any transparent conductor that haslow resistivity and high transparency in the region of interest. The ITOwas patterned to limit the area of overlap between the anode and the topmetal contact. This reduces the probability of having an electricalshort through the insulator between the anode and cathode. The next stepin the process was deposition of a dielectric, as an electricalinsulator to separate the anode and cathode everywhere except throughthe OLED stack. The insulator can also provide a physical barrier torestrict the permeation of oxygen and water into the OLED/PLED stackfrom the side. Examples of materials which could be used as theinsulator include oxides such as Al2O3 or SiO2, nitrides such as Si3N4,or an organic dielectric such as parylene. In many embodiments, thedielectric is preferably an inorganic material, to provide betterphysical barrier properties. The next step is to form the OLED/PLEDstack. The light emitting stack can be as simple as a one layer polymersuch as MEH-PPV (poly[2-methoxy-5-(2′-ethylhexyloxy)-p-phenylenevinylene]), or it can be more complicated, such as an electron injectionlayer-hole blocking layer-emissive layer-electron blocking layer-holeinjection layer. The complexity of the layer structure is determined bythe light emitting material used. After the OLED/PLED structure wasformed, the cathode was deposited. In this example the cathode was alayered structure of LiF/Al, but could be Al only, AgMg, Ca/Al, etc.,again dependent on the OLED/PLED stack material used. A noble metallayer can be added on top of the cathode to improve the contact betweenthe row and column ribbons. This top layer of noble metal can also servethe added function of providing a barrier to oxygen and moisture fromreaching the cathode material or the OLED/PLED material. In addition thenoble metal layer can extend beyond the area of the pixel element.Finally an insulating barrier layer was added on top of the completedstack to further reduce the permeation of oxygen and water.

One of our test embodiments demonstrated the use of processing usingorganic active devices, in this case diodes. The processing of organictransistors is similar.

Similarly, different inorganic devices can be made on different ribbons.For example, logic circuit ribbons and FRAM ribbons can be made bydifferent processes and then combined into an electronic textile.Further, organic PMOS devices and inorganic NMOS devices can be made bydifferent processes and then combined into an electronic textile. FRAMcircuits with OLEDs are mentioned is U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,972,526 by Abe;6,563,480 by Nakamura; and 6,872,969 by Redecker. FRAM circuits withliquid crystal displays (LCDs) are mentioned is U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,819,310by Huang, et al.; 6,747,623 by Koyama; 6,850,217 by Huang, et al.; and6,563,483 by Sakumoto. Sakumoto '483 also mentions asynchronousaddressing of pixels.

To our knowledge, all other solutions for flexible displays based onOLEDs are based on implementations using a single substrate for thedisplay. Here, the OLED/PLED picture elements are formed on a ribbon andthe display is assembled from the ribbons. Here the process used tofabricate an OLED/PLED stack can be optimized specifically for thatstructure. For instance, in our embodiment, not all of the colors needto be on one OLED ribbon. We can mix and match materials and processesto give the best performance for that specific color, because each ofthe colors can be made on a separate substrate (e.g. all of theblue-emitter ribbons being made with a different process than thered-emitting ribbons). The different substrates are brought togetheronce the ribbons are in the display format (e.g. woven). This also makesit much easier to make a color display using OLEDs, because iteliminates the need to pattern the different color materials. Anothersignificant difference is that each ribbon of the pixel elements can bepretested, and/or can be tested (and replaced if necessary) duringassembly. In a traditional display if there are more than a few defects,either in the active matrix control logic, or in the picture elements,the entire display is scrapped. In our embodiment, only a single strip(e.g. one weft ribbon the width of the display) would have to bescrapped, of either the picture element or control logic element. Theother significant advantage is that this technique should allow us tomake very large displays, because the essentially defect free area needonly the width of a single ribbon times the length of the ribbon, ratherthan the width of the entire display times the length of the entiredisplay.

Similarly, different inorganic devices can be made on different ribbons.For example, logic circuit ribbons (or LED ribbons) and FRAM ribbons canbe made by different processes and then combined into an electronictextile. Further, organic PMOS devices and inorganic NMOS devices can bemade by different processes and then combined into an electronictextile.

The electronic textile ribbons may be woven, may be attached onto afabric backing, or a combination thereof (e.g. some ribbons may bewoven, others not woven, with both woven and not-woven ribbons attachedonto a fabric backing). Further, other components such as threads orwires can be used in the electronic textile, and said other componentscan be woven with the ribbons (or not), and can also be used inattaching of ribbons onto a fabric backing.

During assembly, in some embodiments, dynamic alignment of surfacecontacts and defect testing can be done by automated (and/or human)observation of light emission and/or electronic measurements (allowingduring assembly replacement of ribbons containing defects). Warp ribbonsand a weft ribbon being added can be energized through theirlongitudinal conductors and surface contacts to allow testing before thetextile is completely assembled, thus significantly increasingproduction efficiency and yield. Automated aligning of contacts isespecially useful in centering of surface contacts, and preferably boththe surface contacts of warp ribbons and surface contacts of the weftribbons are centered (thus aligned in both x and y dimensions). Warp andweft ribbons may be pressed together to provide alignment-maintainingindentations in the warp and/or weft ribbons surface contacts afterassembly or on a weft ribbon by weft ribbon basis during assembly.

Indentations may be facilitated by having deformable plastic orelastomeric under a metal contact. In some cases, using a plastic (e.g.thermoplastic or thermosetting, or thermoplastic elastomer) under ametal contact and heat during deformation can be used. In someembodiments, metal to metal bonding is used between surface contacts inthe assembled fabric. In some preferred embodiments, metal to metalcontact without bonding is used between surface contacts in theassembled fabric. In other cases, metal to conductive organic to metalis used.

The ability to make defect free systems using conventional processingtechnology over a square meter has been a daunting technical challenge.The concept of a textile display that is fabricated a ribbon at a timecan address several issues; 1) each ribbon can be pre-tested, so thearea that must be defect free is only the width of the system times thewidth of an individual ribbon, 2) the cost of manufacturing the systemwill increase linearly with area for a textile, rather thanquadratically for a single substrate system, 3) complexity at theelement level can be increased because each ribbon can contain severalactive components, and 4) overall complexity is provided at the systemlevel, by integrating simple device ribbons together. Because we can usethe textile display architecture, we are no longer constrained to usingthe same process flow for the different pixel elements. We can use thebest process for each, so when they are combined we get the best systemsolution. The OLED/PLED pixel architecture described herein provides arobust pixel that can be less sensitive to oxygen and water, and thatcan provide good electrical isolation between the anode and cathode overthe entire length of the pixel element ribbon.

One embodiment has an electronic textile as part of a display withorganic-LED (OLED)-containing ribbons with sub-pixel (e.g. red, green,or blue) LEDs, woven with inorganic-RAM-containing ribbons, and inertthread, with the bottom of the organic-LED-containing ribbon being inelectrical contact with the top of the RAM-containing ribbon. TheRAM-containing ribbons can be run parallel to or perpendicular (or both)the organic-LED-containing ribbons. Analog RAMs are used in this examplefor simplicity, other types of drive circuits, e.g. SRAMs could also beused. When run parallel to the organic-LED-containing ribbons,electrical contacts can be made indirectly by interconnect ribbons orinterconnect threads. Thus the textile may contain ribbons with memorycircuitry and conductors for addressing the memory circuitry.

As used herein, the terms “in electrical contact” and “in direct orindirect electrical contact” both include direct contact betweenribbons, and indirect contact where one or more other ribbons, threads,wires, or other conductive elements are used to indirectly connect theribbons. Devices within ribbons are generally directly or indirectlyconnect to surface contacts of those ribbons (e.g. they may beelectrically connected through other devices).

As it applies to inorganic examples, FIG. 1 shows a portion of anelectronic textile (part of a display in this example) with side view ofa segment of an organic-LED (OLED)-containing ribbon 12 with a sub-pixel(e.g. red) LED, woven with an inorganic RAM-containing ribbon 14, and aninert thread 16 (both in cross-section). A color display can have setsof red, green, and blue org-LED-containing ribbons, and the threeribbons together can make up a line of a (e.g. 1,024) pixels. TheRAM-containing ribbon 14 here runs perpendicular to the OLED-containingribbon 12, and parallel to the inert thread 16. The RAM-containingribbon 14 has two surface contacts (18, 20) for making electricalcontact with OLED ribbon surface contacts (22, 24) on the bottom of theOLED-containing ribbons. The RAM-containing ribbon here has a Y-line 26(e.g. a wordline), a secondary voltage conductor 28 and a groundconductor 30 running the length of the ribbon. Here a RAM-containingribbon 14 makes contact to an OLED in OLED ribbon 12 (e.g. one OLED in arow of OLEDs in multiple OLED ribbons) of one color (one RAM-containingribbon could make contact with OLEDs of more than one color). Thedimensions of OLEDs here are not patterned in the OLEM (organic lightemitting material), but are determined by current flowing between thebottom OLED contact and the top transparent conductor. By using ananalog RAM 32, current through each sub-pixel can be controlled by ananalog voltage on the gate of a TFT (not shown) in RAM 32, to controlthe amount of light emitted by that sub-pixel, and controlling the threesub-pixels (e.g. red, green, and blue) in a pixel can control the colorand intensity of that pixel. The inorganic analog RAM (e.g. an inorganicTFT and a capacitor) can be used to control a sub-pixel, but such anarrangement generally consumes significantly greater power, and an SRAMis preferred. Similarly, several (e.g. 5) digital RAMs may be used tocontrol a sub-pixel, and instead of an analog RAM. Generally, SRAMs,DRAMs, etc. may be used. The OLED-containing ribbon 12 generally hasboth a transparent conductor layer (e.g. ITO) and an X-line conductor(e.g. a bitline) running its length (not shown in this figure).

As it applies to inorganic examples, FIG. 2 shows a bottom view of asegment of the organic-LED-containing ribbon 12. Two surface contacts(22, 24) on the bottom of ribbon 12 are for making electrical contactwith surface contacts on the top of the RAM-containing ribbon 14. TheOLED surface contact 24 is electrically connected to the bottom of theOLED 34, and the X-line contact 22 is connected to the X-line conductor36 (e.g. bitline). Other than the exposed portion of surface contacts(22, 24), the bottom of the ribbon 12 is covered with OLED bottominsulator 38.

As it applies to inorganic examples, FIG. 3 shows a top view of asegment of the RAM-containing ribbon 14. Other than exposed portions ofsurface contacts (18, 20) and the RAM 32, the top of the RAM ribbon 14is covered with RAM embedding insulator 33. Additional conductorsrunning the length of the RAM ribbon can be added as needed, dependingon details of the RAM circuit design. RAM circuits with OLEDs arementioned is U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,972,526 by Abe; 6,563,480 by Nakamura; and6,872,969 by Redecker. RAM circuits with liquid crystal displays (LCDs)are mentioned is U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,819,310 by Huang, et al.; 6,747,623 byKoyama; 6,850,217 by Huang, et al.; and 6,563,483 by Sakumoto. Sakumoto'483 also mentions asynchronous addressing of pixels.

As it applies to inorganic examples, FIG. 4 shows a cross-section viewof a segment of the organic-LED-containing ribbon. The ITO layer 40provides the voltage bus and is in electrical contact with the OLED 34.OLED surface contact 24 provides the bottom contact to OLED 34 throughOLED bottom plate 42. As mentioned above, the dimensions of OLEDs hereare not patterned in the OLEM, but are determined by current flowingbetween the bottom OLED contact and the top conductor, and thus organiclight emitting material without significant current 44 does not emit.The X conductor 36 is embedded in OLED side insulation 46, and the ITOlayer 40 is covered with OLED top insulation 48.

As it applies to inorganic examples, FIG. 5 shows a simplified circuitarrangement for such a sub-pixel. The transparent conducting ITO layer40 provides voltage bus V, the OLED 34, and X-line 36, and OLED ribboncontacts (22, 24) are in the OLED ribbon 12. The Y-line 26, secondaryvoltage conductor 28, ground conductor 30, inorganic RAM 32, and the RAMribbon surface contacts (18, 20) are in the RAM ribbon 14. The currentflow through the analog RAM 32 determines the brightness of thesub-pixel OLED 34.

As it applies to organic examples, FIG. 1 shows a portion of anelectronic textile (part of a display in this example) with side view ofa segment of an organic-LED (OLED)-containing ribbon 12 with a sub-pixel(e.g. red) LED, woven with an organic RAM-containing ribbon 14, and aninert thread 16 (both in cross-section). A color display can have setsof red, green, and blue organic-LED-containing ribbons, and the threeribbons together can make up a line of a (e.g. 1,024) pixels. TheRAM-containing ribbon 14 here runs perpendicular to the OLED-containingribbon 12, and parallel to the inert thread 16. The RAM-containingribbon 14 has two surface contacts (18, 20) for making electricalcontact with OLED ribbon surface contacts (22, 24) on the bottom of theOLED-containing ribbons. The RAM-containing ribbon here has a Y-line 26(e.g. a wordline), a secondary voltage conductor 28 and a groundconductor 30 running the length of the ribbon. Here a RAM-containingribbon 14 makes contact to an OLED in OLED ribbon 12 (e.g. one OLED in arow of OLEDs in multiple OLED ribbons) of one color (one RAM-containingribbon could make contact with OLEDs of more than one color). Thedimensions of OLEDs here are not patterned in the OLEM (organic lightemitting material), but are determined by current flowing between thebottom OLED contact and the top conductor. By using an analog RAM 32,current through each sub-pixel can be controlled by an analog voltage onthe gate of a TFT (not shown) in RAM 32, to control the amount of lightemitted by that sub-pixel, and controlling the three sub-pixels (e.g.red, green, and blue) in a pixel can control the color and intensity ofthat pixel. The organic analog RAM (e.g. an organic TFT and a capacitor)can be used to control a sub-pixel, but such an arrangement generallyconsumes significantly greater power, and an SRAM is preferred. There isdevelopment work being done on organic RAMs, and they are a possibilityfor future electronic textiles. Similarly, several (e.g. 5) digital RAMsmay be used to control a sub-pixel, and instead of an analog RAM.Generally, SRAMs, DRAMs, etc. may be used. The OLED-containing ribbon 12generally has both a transparent conductor layer (e.g. ITO) and anX-line conductor (e.g. a bitline) running its length (not shown in thisfigure).

As it applies to organic examples, FIG. 2 shows a bottom view of asegment of the organic-LED-containing ribbon 12. Two surface contacts(22, 24) on the bottom of ribbon 12 are for making electrical contactwith surface contacts on the top of the RAM-containing ribbon 14. TheOLED surface contact 24 is electrically connected to the bottom of theOLED 34, and the X-line contact 22 is connected to the X-line conductor36 (e.g. bitline). Other than the exposed portion of surface contacts(22, 24), the bottom of the ribbon 12 is covered with OLED bottominsulator 38.

As it applies to organic examples, FIG. 3 shows a top view of a segmentof the RAM-containing ribbon 14. Other than exposed portions of surfacecontacts (18, 20) and the RAM 32, the top of the RAM ribbon 14 iscovered with RAM embedding insulator 33. Additional conductors runningthe length of the RAM ribbon can be added as needed, depending ondetails of the RAM circuit design. RAM circuits with OLEDs are mentionedis U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,972,526 by Abe; 6,563,480 by Nakamura; and 6,872,969by Redecker. RAM circuits with liquid crystal displays (LCDs) arementioned is U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,819,310 by Huang, et al.; 6,747,623 byKoyama; 6,850,217 by Huang, et al.; and 6,563,483 by Sakumoto. Sakumoto'483 also mentions asynchronous addressing of pixels.

As it applies to organic examples, FIG. 4 shows a cross-section view ofa segment of the organic-LED-containing ribbon. The ITO layer 40provides the voltage bus and is in electrical contact with the OLED 34.OLED surface contact 24 provides the bottom contact to OLED 34 throughOLED bottom plate 42. As mentioned above, the dimensions of OLEDs hereare not patterned in the OLEM, but are determined by current flowingbetween the bottom OLED contact and the top transparent conductor, andthus organic light emitting material without significant current 44 doesnot emit. The X conductor 36 is embedded in OLED side insulation 46, andthe ITO layer 40 is covered with OLED top insulation 48.

As it applies to organic examples, FIG. 5 shows a simplified circuitarrangement for such a sub-pixel. The transparent conducting ITO layer40 provides voltage bus V, the OLED 34, and X-line 36, and OLED ribboncontacts (22, 24) are in the OLED ribbon 12. The Y-line 26, secondaryvoltage conductor 28, ground conductor 30, organic RAM 32, and the RAMribbon surface contacts (18, 20) are in the RAM ribbon 14. The currentflow through the analog RAM 32 determines the brightness of thesub-pixel OLED 34.

Co-filed provisional application entitled “Electronic Textiles withElectronic Devices on Ribbons” is hereby incorporated by referenceherein.

Although the present invention and its advantages have been describedabove, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions andalterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Moreover, thescope of the present application is not intended to be limited to theparticular embodiments of the process, machine, manufacture, compositionof matter, means, methods and steps described in the specification, butonly by the claims.

It is contemplated that any embodiment discussed in this specificationcan be implemented with respect to any method, kit, reagent, orcomposition of the invention, and vice versa. Furthermore, compositionsof the invention can be used to achieve methods of the invention.

It will be understood that particular embodiments described herein areshown by way of illustration and not as limitations of the invention.The principal features of this invention can be employed in variousembodiments without departing from the scope of the invention. Thoseskilled in the art will recognize, or be able to ascertain using no morethan routine experimentation, numerous equivalents to the specificprocedures described herein. Such equivalents are considered to bewithin the scope of this invention and are covered by the claims.

All publications and patent applications mentioned in the specificationare indicative of the level of skill of those skilled in the art towhich this invention pertains. All publications and patent applicationsare herein incorporated by reference to the same extent as if eachindividual publication or patent application was specifically andindividually indicated to be incorporated by reference.

The use of the word “a” or “an” when used in conjunction with the term“comprising” in the claims and/or the specification may mean “one,” butit is also consistent with the meaning of “one or more,” “at least one,”and “one or more than one.” The use of the term “or” in the claims isused to mean “and/or” unless explicitly indicated to refer toalternatives only or the alternatives are mutually exclusive, althoughthe disclosure supports a definition that refers to only alternativesand “and/or.” Throughout this application, the term “about” is used toindicate that a value includes the inherent variation of error for thedevice, the method being employed to determine the value, or thevariation that exists among the study subjects.

As used in this specification and claim(s), the words “comprising” (andany form of comprising, such as “comprise” and “comprises”), “having”(and any form of having, such as “have” and “has”), “including” (and anyform of including, such as “includes” and “include”) or “containing”(and any form of containing, such as “contains” and “contain”) areinclusive or open-ended and do not exclude additional, unrecitedelements or method steps.

The term “or combinations thereof” as used herein refers to allpermutations and combinations of the listed items preceding the term.For example, “A, B, C, or combinations thereof” is intended to includeat least one of: A, B, C, AB, AC, BC, or ABC, and if order is importantin a particular context, also BA, CA, CB, CBA, BCA, ACB, BAC, or CAB.Continuing with this example, expressly included are combinations thatcontain repeats of one or more item or term, such as BB, AAA, MB, BBC,AAABCCCC, CBBAAA, CABABB, and so forth. The skilled artisan willunderstand that typically there is no limit on the number of items orterms in any combination, unless otherwise apparent from the context.

All of the compositions and/or methods disclosed and claimed herein canbe made and executed without undue experimentation in light of thepresent disclosure. While the compositions and methods of this inventionhave been described in terms of preferred embodiments, it will beapparent to those of skill in the art that variations may be applied tothe compositions and/or methods and in the steps or in the sequence ofsteps of the method described herein without departing from the concept,spirit and scope of the invention. All such similar substitutes andmodifications apparent to those skilled in the art are deemed to bewithin the spirit, scope and concept of the invention as defined by theappended claims.

1. A method of assembling an electronic textile, comprising: assemblingwarp ribbons in parallel; placing a first weft ribbon in electricalcontact with said warp ribbons; and testing said first weft ribbon forat least one of electrical-contact alignment with said warp ribbons, anddefects, using at least one of observation of light emission andelectronic measurements.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said firstweft ribbon is tested before a second weft ribbon is added.
 3. Themethod of claim 2, wherein if said first weft ribbon is found defective,said weft ribbon is removed and replaced prior to adding said secondweft ribbon.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein said first warp ribbon isfed from a spool.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein said first weftribbons is spool fed and cut from the spool before testing.
 6. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said testing is by automated observation oflight emission.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein said testing is byautomated electronic measurements.
 8. The method of claim 1, whereinsaid alignment testing includes dynamic alignment using electronicmeasurements.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein said testing is by humanobservation of light emission.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein saidtesting is by human observation and by automated measurements.